Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Into the Past with K.M. Walton

Please welcome to the blog K.M. Walton, author of Crackedand all around fabulous writer!

She's here today to celebrate Cracked and to share with a glimpse into her reading past, in a post we like to call INTO THE PAST. *cue dramatic music*

So strap in, and take a trip back with K.M. as she reminisces on books past. You might just find you have something in common.

What an interesting concept, and since books have been an integral part of my entire life…here goes!

Age 5: This one’s easy. THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS. My father gathered me and my two younger sisters (my youngest sister hadn’t been born yet) and read this on Christmas Eve. He actually read it every single Christmas Eve of my entire childhood. And I distinctly remember rolling my eyes when I was in high school because I “had to go listen to the book” with my sisters—but inside, and not that deep down, I was excited. I still have the book my father read to us all those years and now my husband reads it to our sons every Christmas Eve.

Age 11: THE BRIDGE TO TEREBITHIA by Katherine Patterson. This book was the first of many to evoke a deep emotional response from me. I remember crying my eyes out for the main character and having the story stick with me for months. To this day I love a good cry while reading. Cleanses the soul.

Age 16: FOREVER by Judy Blume. This book was racy and talked about sex and *gulp* had sex in it. In her best parenting mode, my mother explicitly said I was not allowed to read it. Yeah. So I enlisted the help of our housekeeper. She smuggled it into my house in a plain, brown paper bag and I got to reading. That book made a tremendous impact on me in ways not evident for years to come. It taught me that it’s okay to ask questions and be your own advocate. It taught me that girls are sexual beings too—and that’s okay. No, that’s normal.

Age 20: Anything by Sydney Sheldon or Danielle Steele. In my twenties, I read every single solitary book either of them wrote. Those books are what brought me back to reading for pleasure. High school and college reading had the dubious honor of swallowing up that type of fun. The twenty-year-old me loved the romance and the drama of those books and they were just the ticket to snare me back into the reading fold.

Thank you very much for having me here today. This was a lot of fun taking a walk down “reading memory lane”!!